Mandera court releases on bond Tanzanian caught sneaking into Somalia

A Tanzanian national who was arrested while trying to enter Somalia through an illegal immigration point in Mandera Town has been released on a Sh500,000 bond with a surety of the same amount after denying the charge.

Rashid Rashid Mkumba was charged that on December 28, 2016 at Najma in Mandera Town, he was found unlawfully attempting to exit Kenya into Somalia through an illegal point.

Mkumba said he arrived in Mandera on the same day from Nairobi and was looking for a friend he only identified as Musa.

“I came straight from Mwanza after Musa invited me to come and join him in his taxi business and we were in communication since I left Mwanza only for his phone to be off once I arrived in Mandera,” said Mr Mkumba.

He said he knew Musa as they sold mobile phones together in Mwanza.

“I was looking for a mosque he lived in when someone at a playfield called me and after interrogation took me to the police,” he said.

Mandera Senior Resident Magistrate Peter Areri set the hearing of the case for January 11.

Meanwhile, nine Somalis were separately charged in the same court with being in Kenya illegally.

Four of them — Abdi Mohamed Abdille, Hussein Raggia, Abdi Ahmed Adow and Mohamed Ahmed Abdille — were set free by the court as they were first-time offenders.

Police were ordered to repatriate them to Somalia.

The others — Aftin Mohamed Sala, Hussein Adan Abdi, Mohamed Hussein Adow, Abdifatah Gabow Ibrahim and Ahmed Abdullahi Abdirahman — pleaded guilty and were fined Sh10,000 each or in default serve three months in prison.

In mitigation, the nine said they were donkey-cart operators providing transport services between Somalia and Mandera Town.